June 25, 1903: Ed Delahanty appears in final game as Washington Senators continue to struggle

Ed Delahanty, one of baseball’s most feared sluggers and most tragic figures of the 1890s and 1900s, appeared in what turned out to be his final game on June 25, 1903, seven days before his death in the Niagara River at age 35. It was fitting that Delahanty’s last game was in Cleveland, his hometown, where he was always a beloved citizen and popular ballplayer.

A 4-0 win for the Cleveland Naps over Delahanty’s Washington Senators at League Park was noteworthy primarily for Delahanty’s final appearance and last hit – though of course no one was aware of it at the time.

Washington, a distant eighth in the eight-team American League, had arrived in Cleveland for the third stop on a Western road trip. The Senators had gone 0-3 against the St. Louis Browns and 0-2 against the Chicago White Sox. They had four games scheduled against the Naps before concluding the road trip with four more games in Detroit. Delahanty had appeared in all five of the games against the Browns and White Sox, playing right field and collecting six hits – five singles and a double – in 19 at-bats.

The Senators could be partially excused for their poor performance, given the distractions surrounding the team and its star player. In late 1902 Delahanty had agreed to play for the New York Giants in 1903.1 But a peace agreement between the National League and the new American League nullified any contract-jumping and forced Delahanty to remain in Washington, where it was no secret that he was unhappy.2

“It seemed like every dysfunctional part of his life was striking him at one time. His poor physical condition, his desperate finances, a distraught and ailing wife, and his thwarted ambitions were breaking him down,” observed biographer Jerrold Casway. “Undoubtedly, [Giants manager John] McGraw and [Giants owner John] Brush were applying pressure on the bewildered ballplayer. The only solace for his anxiety and stress was drinking.”3

Opening the series in Cleveland against the fourth-place Naps, the Senators had the misfortune of facing right-handed pitcher Earl Moore. He was known as “Crossfire” for his side-arm delivery motion from the end of the rubber.4 Moore went on to win 20 games in 1903 and led the AL with a 1.74 ERA. Another right-hander, John “Happy” Townsend, got the call to start for the Senators. Townsend had only one win against eight losses going into the contest.

Senators manager Tom Loftus placed Delahanty third in the batting order and, for the first time all season, started him at first base.5 Moore retired the Senators quickly in the top of the first inning, including a swinging strikeout of Delahanty.

Cleveland racked up all the runs it needed by scoring three times in the home half of the first. Leadoff hitter Harry Bay walked and the speedy center fielder stole second. Star second baseman Nap Lajoie drove in Bay with a double off the left-field wall.

Cleveland first baseman Charlie “Piano Legs” Hickman reached second base when the Senators fielded his grounder and trapped Lajoie in a rundown between second and third. Left fielder Jack McCarthy’s single brought Hickman home. McCarthy then stole second and went to third on an infield hit by shortstop Billy Clingman. Townsend’s wild pitch allowed McCarthy to score and complete the Naps’ first-inning outburst.

The Naps made it 4-0 in the third inning when McCarthy doubled and scored as catcher Fred Abbott hit a Texas Leaguer behind shortstop. Townsend settled down after a rough start and did not allow another hit after the fourth inning.

In the top of the fourth, Delahanty got what proved to be the final hit of his career as he “beat out an infield single and stole second.”6 According to one account, Big Ed may have known what pitch was coming. With his arms raised and his bat held high over his head, “Del glanced down to see catcher Fred Abbott flashing his finger signs to the pitcher, and he laughed. Ed was a master at picking up signals, often enabling him to know exactly what pitch was coming.”7

Shortstop Charles Moran had drawn a walk ahead of Delahanty, gone to second on a passed ball, and moved to third on Delahanty’s hit. The game’s best scoring opportunity for the Senators ended when the next two batters could not drive the runners home from second and third.

Delahanty made his final plate appearance in the top of the eighth inning with a chance to end the shutout, but Moore was up to the challenge. “It looked good for a tally in the eighth, when with two out, Moran was given his second pass, going to third on [Kip] Selbach’s single, but Delahanty sent an easy grounder to Moore, and the chance was gone,” reported the Cleveland Leader.8

Moore closed out the first of his three shutouts of 1903. The Senators were blanked 20 times that season, on their way to scoring a majors-lowest total of 437 runs. News accounts acknowledged the routine nature of the day’s action and labeled it “one of the most uninteresting games” played at League Park that season. Washington appeared to be just going through the motions, and the “game dragged through 105 minutes.”9

The fourth-inning single was the 2597th hit of Delahanty’s career. His lifetime batting average of .346 was the highest in the game’s history at that time.10 With 52 hits in 1903, Delahanty’s batting average was .333 in his shortened season.

Delahanty’s accumulating seven hits in 23 at-bats over his final six games, a .304 pace, might be surprising given the turmoil going on in his personal and professional life. Biographer Casway noted that his main motivation was to prove his worth to the Giants, who were still seeking his services. “From June 1 to his final game on June 25, Delahanty was 28 for 72 for a .390 average. Riding the crest of a sixteen-game hitting streak, Del’s .340 average put him fourth in the league.”11

The loss extended the Senators’ losing streak to six games. On June 26 the same papers that carried the account of Delahanty’s final game also reported that the peace agreement between the leagues to prevent contract-jumping had ended when George Davis, a regular for the White Sox in 1902, was permitted to play for the Giants.12

Delahanty undoubtedly read about the news and concluded that his days as a Senator were over. Likely thinking his future was with the Giants, Del did not play for Washington on June 26. It was reported he was ill. When Delahanty did not show for the Saturday doubleheader, his teammates were not surprised. “Once again, his absence was reported as due to illness, but the ballplayers knew better. Del was loose on a drinking spree.”13

After dropping three of four games in Cleveland, the Washington club boarded a Saturday evening ferry to cross Lake Erie for a four-game set in Detroit, the final stop on their road trip.14

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Ed Delahanty, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE190306250.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1903/B06250CLE1903.htm

Notes

1 See generally Mike Sowell, July 2, 1903, (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992) and Jerrold Casway, Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball, (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004).

2 As outlined by Casway, 244: “Both leagues were uneasy about the 1903 season. The National League was in disarray, and the American League was stretched to its limits. … After much posturing and compromise, four men from each league convened in Cincinnati on Friday, January 9, 1903. … The key figure was Garry Herrmann, the newly named president of the Cincinnati ball club. He was a lifelong friend of Ban Johnson and a confidant of John Brush. … The magnates agreed to cooperate in scheduling games and adopted the National League rules, such as foul-strike regulation. The old league even accepted Johnson’s entry into New York after he dropped plans to move into Pittsburgh. Both organizations also recognized the reserved rights of every team, and a new contract was perfected. In anticipation of future cooperation, plans were made for an executive commission to govern major league baseball.”

3 Casway, 257.

4 David Jones, ed., Deadball Stars of the American League (Washington: Potomac Books, Inc., 2006), 644.

5 Delahanty’s unusual start at first base can be attributed to injuries and a need to shuffle the starting lineup. Outfielder Jimmy Ryan was “nursing a mashed hand,” and utilityman Lew Drill had “a sore head, the result of Pitcher [Frank] Owen’s wildness in Chicago.” Additionally, infielder George “Scoops” Carey was dealing with an unspecified injury. “Sports of All Sorts: Senators Failed to Score Against Cleveland,” Washington Evening Star, June 26, 1903: 16.

6 The Cleveland Leader reported Delahanty’s final hit as an infield single. “Moore Uses the Brush,” Cleveland Leader: June 26, 1903: 6. Game accounts in the Washington Evening Star, Washington Post, and Cleveland Plain Dealer described the hit as a single to right, with Elmer Flick’s throw holding Charles Moran at third. “Sports of All Sorts”; “Not a Senator Scored,” Washington Post, June 26, 1903: 9; “Another Row of Goose Eggs,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 26, 1903: 5.

7 Sowell, 242.

8 “Moore Uses the Brush.”

9 “Moore Uses the Brush.”

10 Charles Alexander, John McGraw (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988), 104.

11 Casway, 257.

12 “Baseball War Again Imminent,” Chicago Tribune, June 26, 1903: 8; “Pulliam’s New Ruling,” Cleveland Leader, June 26, 1903: 6.

13 Sowell, 250.

14 Delahanty never returned to the United States alive. The events and circumstances surrounding his tragic death have been widely reported and well-researched. See Sowell, Casway, and John Saccoman, “Ed Delahanty,” SABR Baseball Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ed-delahanty/. Accessed December 2024. Saccoman’s biography provides a succinct summary of Delahanty’s final days and hours: “Del accompanied the Senators to their next stop in Detroit, where his mother and two brothers were summoned to help straighten him out. He continued to drink heavily, however, and again abandoned the team on July 2. By this time he knew he would be unable to jump to the Giants, as a court order issued the previous day prohibited Davis from playing for New York. Delahanty nonetheless boarded a train to New York that afternoon but, perhaps tellingly, left his belongings in his Detroit hotel room. Del misbehaved on the train, smoking when he was not supposed to, drinking to excess, and accidentally breaking the glass in front of the emergency tool cabinet. Finally, he fell asleep. When the train made a scheduled stop in Bridgeburg, (now Fort Erie), Ontario, Del became disoriented and tried to enter an already occupied berth. The commotion seemed to confuse him more, and he had to be subdued by three men. The conductor, John Cole, had understandably had enough of him for the evening and ordered Del off the train. The train crossed the International Railway Bridge over the Niagara River into Buffalo. In the darkness Big Ed walked out onto the 3,600-foot-long bridge and was standing still at its edge, staring down into the water, when he was accosted by night watchman Sam Kingston, on the lookout for smugglers. A scuffle ensued, with Kingston dragging Delahanty back to the middle of the wide bridge, but Kingston then fell down and Delahanty got away. Moments later, according to Kingston – who claimed it was too dark to see what happened – Del either jumped or drunkenly stumbled off the edge of the bridge, falling 25 feet into the 40-foot-deep Niagara River. His naked body (except for tie, shoes and socks) was found 20 miles downstream at the base of Horseshoe Falls – the Canadian portion of Niagara Falls – seven days later. Dead at the age of 35, he was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland.”